Why Choose NC State?

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NC State is a great place to earn your History M.A., Public History M.A., or Public History Ph.D. When you enter the History Department at NC State, you join a community of scholars and practitioners who are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and bringing the insights of history to the public. Graduate students work closely with our award-winning faculty of scholars and teachers in a collaborative and supportive environment. Each new class of graduate students is typically less than 25 students per year, and class sizes are small, averaging only 10 to 20 students.

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Funding Your Graduate Education

We understand that graduate education can be a significant financial investment. Tuition rates make NC State an affordable option. In North Carolina, out-of-state students may apply for in-state residency after one year. In addition, the History Department offers financial assistance to students to support graduate student education, research, professional development, and travel.

Think And Do

History Today

Exhibit Opening

Graduate students at the NC State Department of History don’t just sit in lectures, they go beyond the classroom by putting history into practice. Our students research historical questions, present at academic conferences and symposia, gain valuable experience through internships, design museum exhibits, and more. Graduate students in the History Department have the opportunity to work with faculty on research and engagement in a variety of venues, including:

Local, county, and state institutions such as the City of Raleigh Museum, Mordecai Historic Park, Preservation Chapel Hill, and the North Carolina Museum of History.

The most rewarding part of the public history program? The hands on research. I have developed content for a digital history website, an exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History and an on-campus exhibit on Mr. Wuf. I also interned at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Careers and Life After Grad School

What can you do with a graduate degree in History or Public History? NC State History programs emphasize excellence in research, writing, interpretation, communication--ideal skills in a competitive job market. Our History M.A. graduates have continued on to excellent Ph.D. programs such as those at Yale, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University among others and now have graduate students of their own. Other History M.A. graduates have entered jobs in teaching, publishing, and administration.

My M.A. studies provided me with a solid foundation for further work at the doctoral level.

Dean Bruno, M.A. '08Ph.D. Candidate, Vanderbilt

Most of our Public History M.A. students enter careers in archives, libraries, historic sites and parks, museums, and other cultural institutions as well as government and private corporations. The Public History Ph.D. program is designed for public history professionals who want to advance their career opportunities with doctoral degrees and for students who wish to pursue public history careers in universities or leadership positions in public history venues.